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Overview

The Great American Mission traces how America's global modernization efforts during the twentieth century were a means to remake the world in its own image. David Ekbladh shows that the emerging concept of modernization combined existing development ideas from the Depression. He describes how ambitious New Deal programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority became symbols of American liberalism's ability to marshal the social sciences, state planning, civil society, and technology to produce extensive social and economic change. For proponents, it became a valuable weapon to check the influence of menacing ideologies such as Fascism and Communism.

Modernization took on profound geopolitical importance as the United States grappled with these threats. After World War II, modernization remained a means to contain the growing influence of the Soviet Union. Ekbladh demonstrates how U.S.-led nation-building efforts in global hot spots, enlisting an array of nongovernmental groups and international organizations, were a basic part of American strategy in the Cold War.

However, a close connection to the Vietnam War and the upheavals of the 1960s would discredit modernization. The end of the Cold War further obscured modernization's mission, but many of its assumptions regained prominence after September 11 as the United States moved to contain new threats. Using new sources and perspectives, The Great American Mission offers new and challenging interpretations of America's ideological motivations and humanitarian responsibilities abroad.

What People Are Saying

Westad

An extraordinarily important book. Ekbladh puts concepts of development and modernization at the heart of America's global expansion in the twentieth century and thereby helps us understand the forces that move U.S. foreign policy, both yesterday and today.
— O. A. Westad, author of "The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times"

Akira Iriye

A comprehensive history of developmentalism as it became increasingly central to U.S. foreign affairs in the twentieth century. The legacy is still with us, and anyone interested in finding out what may have happened to the 'American century' will find the book an excellent guide and a rich source of information and insights.
— Akira Iriye, Harvard University

Engerman

Cogent and compelling. The Great American Mission illuminates for the first time how the central characteristics of America's modernization project in the Cold War came together in the prewar period. Carefully tracing ideas, institutions, and individuals from the Depression to the heyday of development, Ekbladh offers new insights into the distinctive components of American modernization efforts abroad.
— David C. Engerman, Brandeis University

Editorial Reviews

Foreign Affairs

In this important book, Ekbladh provides one of the most compelling portraits yet of the liberal ideas that guide U.S. foreign policy. . . . Even though the liberal vision of modernization lost appeal amid the trauma of the Vietnam War, as Ekbladh's fascinating account makes clear, it remains deeply embedded in the American imagination.
— John Ikenberry

Political Science Quarterly

[T]his is a book with a broad mandate. . . . It is a significant contribution to have such a compelling account of the overall strategic impetus of American development during, before, and after the Cold War.
— Travis Nelson

Choice

Ekbladh offers a sweeping, provocative appraisal of the U.S. attempt to employ development as an ideological weapon.

Journal of American Studies

International Affairs

The Great American Mission deserves to take its place among the literature on the evolution of US foreign relations in the twentieth century.
— Nicolas Bouchet

Journal of Transatlantic Studies

David Ekbladh's excellent new book does valuable work in illustrating much of this complexity, and fleshing out its rich historical detail. He not only provides an impressive account of the evolution of American thinking about 'development' and 'modernisation', but also places this firmly in the context of both social and intellectual trends at work within the United States and the external demands being made of its foreign policy.
— Adam Quinn

Political Science Journal

[A]s a historical narrative it constitutes a very valuable and thorough contribution to understanding how modernization ideas furnished the foundations of American post-war development policy, whilst also supplying a series of interesting portraits of almost-forgotten figures who were intimately associated with this enterprise. . . . [T]he book is a substantial contribution both to the literatures on the Cold War as well as the history of Western development policy, making it a worthwhile book for the specialist and the interested general reader alike.
— Willem Oosterveld

Foreign Affairs
- John Ikenberry

In this important book, Ekbladh provides one of the most compelling portraits yet of the liberal ideas that guide U.S. foreign policy. . . . Even though the liberal vision of modernization lost appeal amid the trauma of the Vietnam War, as Ekbladh's fascinating account makes clear, it remains deeply embedded in the American imagination.

Political Science Quarterly
- Travis Nelson

[T]his is a book with a broad mandate. . . . It is a significant contribution to have such a compelling account of the overall strategic impetus of American development during, before, and after the Cold War.

Journal of American Studies
- David Milne

[E]rudite and ambitious. . . . [A]n illuminating and compelling read.

International Affairs
- Nicolas Bouchet

The Great American Mission deserves to take its place among the literature on the evolution of US foreign relations in the twentieth century.

Journal of Transatlantic Studies
- Adam Quinn

David Ekbladh's excellent new book does valuable work in illustrating much of this complexity, and fleshing out its rich historical detail. He not only provides an impressive account of the evolution of American thinking about 'development' and 'modernisation', but also places this firmly in the context of both social and intellectual trends at work within the United States and the external demands being made of its foreign policy.

Political Science Journal
- Willem Oosterveld

[A]s a historical narrative it constitutes a very valuable and thorough contribution to understanding how modernization ideas furnished the foundations of American post-war development policy, whilst also supplying a series of interesting portraits of almost-forgotten figures who were intimately associated with this enterprise. . . . [T]he book is a substantial contribution both to the literatures on the Cold War as well as the history of Western development policy, making it a worthwhile book for the specialist and the interested general reader alike.

From the Publisher

Winner of the 2011 Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize, Society for Historians of American Foreign RelationsWinner of the 2010 Best First Book Award, Phi Alpha Theta

"In this important book, Ekbladh provides one of the most compelling portraits yet of the liberal ideas that guide U.S. foreign policy. . . . Even though the liberal vision of modernization lost appeal amid the trauma of the Vietnam War, as Ekbladh's fascinating account makes clear, it remains deeply embedded in the American imagination."—John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

"[T]his is a book with a broad mandate. . . . It is a significant contribution to have such a compelling account of the overall strategic impetus of American development during, before, and after the Cold War."—Travis Nelson, Political Science Quarterly

"Ekbladh offers a sweeping, provocative appraisal of the U.S. attempt to employ development as an ideological weapon."—Choice

"The Great American Mission deserves to take its place among the literature on the evolution of US foreign relations in the twentieth century."—Nicolas Bouchet, International Affairs

"David Ekbladh's excellent new book does valuable work in illustrating much of this complexity, and fleshing out its rich historical detail. He not only provides an impressive account of the evolution of American thinking about 'development' and 'modernisation', but also places this firmly in the context of both social and intellectual trends at work within the United States and the external demands being made of its foreign policy."—Adam Quinn, Journal of Transatlantic Studies

"[A]s a historical narrative it constitutes a very valuable and thorough contribution to understanding how modernization ideas furnished the foundations of American post-war development policy, whilst also supplying a series of interesting portraits of almost-forgotten figures who were intimately associated with this enterprise. . . . [T]he book is a substantial contribution both to the literatures on the Cold War as well as the history of Western development policy, making it a worthwhile book for the specialist and the interested general reader alike."—Willem Oosterveld, Political Science Journal

From the Publisher

Winner of the 2011 Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations

Winner of the 2010 Best First Book Award, Phi Alpha Theta

"In this important book, Ekbladh provides one of the most compelling portraits yet of the liberal ideas that guide U.S. foreign policy. . . . Even though the liberal vision of modernization lost appeal amid the trauma of the Vietnam War, as Ekbladh's fascinating account makes clear, it remains deeply embedded in the American imagination."—John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

"[T]his is a book with a broad mandate. . . . It is a significant contribution to have such a compelling account of the overall strategic impetus of American development during, before, and after the Cold War."—Travis Nelson, Political Science Quarterly

"Ekbladh offers a sweeping, provocative appraisal of the U.S. attempt to employ development as an ideological weapon."—Choice

"The Great American Mission deserves to take its place among the literature on the evolution of US foreign relations in the twentieth century."—Nicolas Bouchet, International Affairs

"David Ekbladh's excellent new book does valuable work in illustrating much of this complexity, and fleshing out its rich historical detail. He not only provides an impressive account of the evolution of American thinking about 'development' and 'modernisation', but also places this firmly in the context of both social and intellectual trends at work within the United States and the external demands being made of its foreign policy."—Adam Quinn, Journal of Transatlantic Studies

"[A]s a historical narrative it constitutes a very valuable and thorough contribution to understanding how modernization ideas furnished the foundations of American post-war development policy, whilst also supplying a series of interesting portraits of almost-forgotten figures who were intimately associated with this enterprise. . . . [T]he book is a substantial contribution both to the literatures on the Cold War as well as the history of Western development policy, making it a worthwhile book for the specialist and the interested general reader alike."—Willem Oosterveld, Political Science Journal

Meet the Author

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
List of Abbreviations xv
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1: The Rise of an American Style of Development, 1914-1937 14
CHAPTER 2: The Only Road for Mankind: "Modernisation" to Meet the Challenge of Totalitarianism, 1933-1944 40
CHAPTER 3: A Gospel of Liberalism: Point Four and Modernization as National Policy, 1943-1952 77
CHAPTER 4: "The Proving Ground": Modernization and U.S. Policy in Northeast Asia, 1945-1960 114
CHAPTER 5: "The Great American Mission": Modernization and the United States in the World, 1952-1960 153
CHAPTER 6: A TVA on the Mekong: Modernization at War in Southeast Asia, 1960-1973 190
CHAPTER 7: "Everything Is Going Wrong": The Crisis of Development and the End of the Postwar Consensus 226
CHAPTER 8: New Developments: From the Cold War to the "War on Terror" 257
Notes 275
Bibliography 337
Index 373

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